Join jaguars.com senior editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.
Shon from Bryan, TX
Is an NFL player prohibited from working one on one with skill-position coaches during the dead zone to get better before training camp?
Vic: Once a team has used its allotment of 14 OTA practices, there can be no more organized team activities before the start of training camp. If a player asks his position coach to provide individual training, however, the coach may do so. Ten days prior to the start of training camp begins a moratorium on any organized activities for veterans. There is an exclusion for players coming off injuries.
Don from Fort Smith, AR
What is your opinion of Matt Jones’ future with the Jags?
Vic: You don’t draft a guy in the first round to be a number five receiver. Jones was drafted to be a star player. In his first-ever game, he was the featured player, having been used in a “Slash” role that had everybody excited. In his three years with the team, he has always been a featured player. I have never seen a player made the target of more potential touchdown passes. Now we’ve reached the point that he’s fighting to make the team and I reject that notion because just making the team isn’t good enough. He was drafted to be a playmaker. He was drafted to be a featured player and you can’t feature a guy when he’s your number five receiver. As far as I’m concerned, he has to start lighting it up. In my opinion, he has to give the Jaguars reason to believe in this training camp that he will become the star player this season that they drafted him to be.
Michael from London, UK
At this point, how would you compare the Jaguars franchise to the Carolina Panthers, since they came into the league together? Although the Jags are a better football squad on paper, Carolina is having absolutely no problems selling tickets or finding a corporate sponsor for stadium naming rights.
Vic: I’ve answered this several times but I’ll do it again. The big difference between the Jaguars and the Panthers is that the Panthers solid Permanent Seat Licences (PSLs). That’s what has allowed them to sell their tickets; the threat of forfeiting their PSLs if they don’t buy their tickets. The naming rights thing is a function of the difference between the two cities. Charlotte is a banking capital. It has a far bigger corporate community than Jacksonville does. On the field, the Jaguars have the edge in wins. The Jaguars are ninth in the league in winning percentage since the team began playing. If you eliminate the first season, the Jaguars are sixth in the league since 1996. The Panthers are 21st since ’95 and also 21st since ’96. Carolina, however, has done something the Jaguars haven’t done: They’ve won a conference title and played in the Super Bowl. Both teams built stadiums that are too big for the markets, but the PSL concept has kept Carolina’s stadium sold. Could you sell PSLs in Jacksonville? I don’t think so. That’s the big difference.
J.R. from Yulee, FL
A good man in Tim Russert passed away on Friday. I have learned a lot about Tim since his passing: a sports (Buffalo) fan, a great father, writer and the best in his profession. Why does it take someone's death to find out how truly special someone is?
Vic: Maybe you were watching FOX.
Will from Jacksonville
Our defense is supposed to be this rough, tough team, but it seems to me that ever since losing Marcus Stroud, who do we have? Reggie Hayward has not been the same since the Achilles tear. Paul Spicer is old, so the only big force is John Henderson. Who will replace Stroud and will the line be even close to as good as it was?
Vic: Where have you been? Marcus Stroud sustained the ankle injury that has clouded his career way back during the week of the 2005 season-opener and hasn’t been the same since. Rob Meier has had to play a bigger role since then and, frankly, because of Stroud’s injury, Meier had become a more effective player. Your question is two years late.
Joe from Pontypridd, Wales
Is there anything more annoying than golf fans shouting, “Get in the hole,” after every single shot?
Vic: The only thing more annoying is seeing Tiger Woods do his fist pump – now it’s a double fist pump – after sinking a putt. Or maybe it’s his new trademark writhe-in-pain-and-limp after a bad shot that’s more annoying. I’m not sure which it is.
Logan from New Bremen, OH
Could you enlighten me on this tomato famine?
Vic: I guess this is a bad time to eat tomatoes, so I’m going to lay off for awhile. I like banana peppers better anyhow. The tomato thing, however, brought back memories of my mother’s garden when I was a kid. She grew tomatoes in it and by midsummer the tomato plants had taken over the whole backyard. Every morning you opened the back door, it seemed as though there were a hundred more tomatoes than the day before. Tomatoes were everywhere! The garden was pushed up against the side of a garage that was serviced by an alley and on mischievous summer nights we would often drift into the alley for a little tomato target practice on cars going up the street. It was a tricky shot. You had to lead the car because you couldn’t see it until it was too late. You had to judge the headlights and sound and then fire. Every once in awhile you’d get the sweet sound of splat and, of course, the subsequent squeal of tires. Now I feel bad about having wasted all those tomatoes. If this tomato thing had happened back then, I have no doubt my mother’s garden could’ve fed the world.
Vinny from Saratoga, NY
Do you think Mike Walker is going to catch people's eyes this season?
Vic: Yes, if his knee allows.